The Hobbit

New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1938 Illustrated by the author, with four color and nine black-and-white illustrations. First American edition, first printing, first state, with "1938" and bowing hobbit to title page, incorrect map placement on list of illustrations, and Chapter VII mistakenly titled "Chapter VI" on p. 118. Publisher's tan cloth, with front board and spine lettered in blue, bowing hobbit in red to front board, and pictorial map endpapers printed in red and white; in its original pictorial dust jacket printed primarily in white, blue, and red, with Tolkien's Hobbiton illustration to front panel, Smaug illustration to rear panel, and $2.50 price to front flap. Near fine book, with light spotting to spine, top left corner of rear board slightly bumped, an area of light staining to front free endpaper, and bookplate of Ralph D. Hartman to verso of front free endpaper; very good unclipped dust jacket, with discrete professional restoration to spine ends and panels (tissue reinforcement to edges and verso of folds, color added to edges of panels and spine ends), edges with light toning, soiling to spine, panels exceptionally clean and bright. Overall, a splendid copy of one of the most iconic and popular books of the 20th century. Originally published in 1937 in a small initial print run of 1500 copies, The Hobbit is a fantasy children's novel that precedes Tolkien's 1954-1955 epic trilogy The Lord of the Rings. It tells the story of Bilbo Baggins, a well-do-to hobbit with just enough sense of adventure, as he joins the wizard Gandalf and a troupe of thirteen dwarves in a quest to retake the Lonely Mountain, the dwarves' rightful kingdom, from its captor Smaug, a fearsome dragon. Bilbo, hired as the "burglar" of the group despite having none of the necessary qualifications, is initially more a burden than aid, but transforms into an important team member after finding a magic ring that makes him invisible. The plot, which takes place around 150 years before The Fellowship of the Ring, concludes with the Battle of Five Kingdoms, a struggle between good and evil that pits the kingdoms of dwarves, men, and elves against the more sinister goblins and wargs. The Hobbit received immediate critical and commercial success, and Tolkien's publishers requested a sequel-a proposition that developed into The Lord of the Rings. In the trilogy, Tolkien expands upon Bilbo's finding of the magic ring, which proves to be the lost property of the Dark Lord Sauron and inadvertently begins a chain of events that ultimately lead up to the War of the Ring in The Return of the King. After completing The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien made a few substantial edits to The Hobbit to ensure its congruence with the trilogy. Interestingly, Tolkien cites William Morris as a major inspiration for his novels, specifically the interest in Nordic mythology, the hand-drawn illustrations, and emphasis on craftsmanship.. First American Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Dust Jacket Included.